REFLECTIONS
A loud whistle is her signature identification. She also carries a wide smile, accented by sparkling green eyes.
Some call her Captain; others call her Margo.
She is Margo White, a U.S. Army veteran, who served for the purpose of liberating the country of Iraq.
Her duties were fulfilled as an Army nurse.
The primary political goal of Operation Iraqi Freedom was to create "a stable Iraq, with its territorial integrity intact and a broad-based government that renounces WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) development and use, and no longer supports terrorism or threatens its neighbors."
Margo was the featured speaker recently at a regular meeting of the Cargill Citizens Advisory Panel (CAP) held at the Blooming Prairie Government Center. This was only the second time she had made a public presentation about her experiences as an Army nurse.
Margo served 14 years. As a captain, she covered “lots of ground,” delivering babies and treating our own servicemen and detainees. A 1998 graduate of Blooming Prairie High School, she went through ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps).
She said she logged over 200 parachute jumps as a young cadet. She also was on an Army football team.
“Our team did well,” she said. “I guess we were a little bit too rough for our opponents.”
Margo was surprised that she was deployed to Iraq as a reserve, thinking that National Guard troops took care of the state they were from. Margo said she had to deal with the stressors of life, dealing with the Iraq War and home life.
Deployed out of Fort Bliss, Texas, Margo soon found herself doing nurse duty in Iraq for one year, 2007 to 2008. She took care of American troops, plus detainees.
“We were full all of the time,” she said.
Margo worked lab, hospital, and surgery. She said it was very difficult for the American troops to obtain blood.
She said her orders were to treat the soldier (American or Iraqi) who was hurt the most severely. “I could sniff out an infection from far away,” Margo said. “You learn with what you have.”
Margo clearly remembers the time one of the detainees bit her.
“It was pretty ugly, but God got me through it,” she said.
Margo’s husband Rob is also an Army veteran. He saw combat duty in Panama. Margo’s time in Iraq was also labeled combat duty.
“I feel like I’ve been called to be a nurse,” Margo believes.
Next meeting
The Cargill CAP group will have its next regular meeting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 9. Facilitator Roger Sorenson said he had two “dynamite speakers” lined up for the future: an air ambulance representative and a rowing champion.
Fly the flag
Since the date of this meeting was Flag Day, June 14, local resident Tom Peterson, representing the Sons of the American Legion (SAL), urged everyone to fly the flag as often as possible. He said SAL members have been posting the American flag on Blooming Prairie lawns on special occasions: Memorial Day, Flag Day, and Veterans Day.
